Turning Bench Time into Billable Time
The Context
A multinational tech consultancy was facing a familiar problem: highly skilled consultants were sitting “on the bench” between projects. While waiting for new client work to land, the business was covering full costs - without any revenue return.
Internally, these employees were feeling disengaged, undervalued, and unsure about their future. Externally, the CFO was watching idle labour eat into margins.
The Challenge
- Consultants were being paid at full rate while delivering zero billable hours
- Contractor alternatives were too expensive for short gaps in delivery
- Bench time created waste and morale risk
- The company wanted recall flexibility when new projects kicked off
The Solution
Shared Workforce Group partnered with the consultancy to:
- Identify consultants with no immediate project
- Establish service-level agreements (SLA) to allow 48-hour recall
- Place those individuals into short-term, non-competing assignments
- Provide full governance, insurance, and performance tracking
- Align compensation to support dual-earning opportunities for the employees
The consultants remained “bench-marked” internally, but became revenue-generating through the Shared Workforce ecosystem.
The Results
- £600k / $740k in income generated across 12 consultants in 3 months
- Average employee bench time reduced from 22 days to 6 days
- 100% recall compliance under SLA
- Consultant NPS rose from 61 to 85 during the pilot
- The CFO avoided contractor dependency and improved gross margin
